Featured Press

Uncorking the City: Pawning the Petrus

There are pawnbrokers all over Greater New York who will take your gold, your diamonds, even your car. And two are willing to take your Mouton, your Petrus and your Domaine de la Romanée Conti.

Both Borro Co. and New York Loan Co. have added fine wines to their lists of loan-worthy collateral. The pawnbrokers—Borro eschews the word pawn—will lend money against wine in addition to the more typical categories of gold, jewelry and art.

California-based Beverly Loan Co., the sister company of New York Loan Co., has been making loans against wine in the Golden State since the 1980s. (The company was the first to accept wine as collateral on a regular basis, according to CHief Executive Jordan Tabach-Bank).